First benchmarks: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 takes it up a notch

At the Snapdragon Summit 2025, Qualcomm gave the journalists in attendance the opportunity to subject the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to some benchmark tests. The results confirm the performance boost that Qualcomm claims to have given the new processor. However, it still seems to be a hothead.

We were able to subject the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to the benchmarks of Geekbench 6.5 and four test scenarios from 3DMark. As usual, no devices from hardware partners were provided for the test, but rather reference designs from Qualcomm that are used for internal development. In addition to the octa-core, it was equipped with 24 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 1 TB of UFS4.1 memory, and a 6.8-inch OLED display with a refresh rate of 120 hertz and a resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels. We used the Unlimited benchmarks from 3DMark for the test so as not to include the screen resolution. The results at a glance:

• Geekbench Single / Multi: 3831 / 12383
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 8329
• 3DMark Wild Life: 30614
• 3DMark Steel Nomad Light: 3150
• 3DMark Solar Bay: 14549

We used the measured values of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for comparison. This smartphone is equipped with last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite in the special “For Galaxy” version, which has a slightly higher maximum clock rate than the standard SoC. It achieved the following results:

• Geekbench Single / Multi: 3100 / 9959
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 6457
• 3DMark Wild Life: 23824
• 3DMark Steel Nomad Light: 2609
• 3DMark Solar Bay: 11272

We also used the Apple A19 Pro in the new iPhone 17 Pro for comparison, and the Snapdragon also performs remarkably in this duel.

• Geekbench Single / Multi: 3774 / 9637
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 4751
• 3DMark Wild Life: 22846
• 3DMark Steel Nomad Light: 2216
• 3DMark Solar Bay: 11046

The results of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in Qualcomm's reference platform are between 20.7 and 29 percent higher than those achieved by the S25 Ultra with the high-end processor of the previous generation. Qualcomm has made considerable gains in both graphics-heavy tests such as 3DMark and Geekbench, which focuses on computing power.

Heavy throttling due to heat

Nevertheless, these benchmarks on developer devices only provide a limited indication of the actual performance of smartphones with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5; this requires finished products for end customers. This applies in particular to tests under continuous load, which are heavily dependent on the individual device design, materials, and cooling systems. Nevertheless, we were able to subject the new chip to at least one endurance test, the Wild Life Stress Test from 3DMark. After 20 runs at room temperature, the test device's performance slowed down comparatively sharply, with the measured values dropping to just 55.5 percent of the maximum result at the end. The Galaxy S25 Ultra with the predecessor processor did not perform much better in this test, with 57.8 percent on the home stretch.

Note: Qualcomm covered the author's travel and accommodation costs for the Snapdragon Summit.

(sht)